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Yep. I think today was only the 5th day in which courts were in session since Murphy signed the bill, and just the second business day for the court since the hearing on the request for a TRO. That must be close to a record. I could hear the sound of the bitch slap clear up here.

You'll finish it. You are correct, it isn't that difficult. You can always go the 'lite' build route and start with a complete upper (eliminates the need for a couple of specialized tools, and the headspacing should already be correct). Then just build the lower as you wish. If you have questions you'll get plenty of answers here, and YouTube has some great videos as you've already found. I don't doubt that you can find a gunsmith or FFL to finish the build for you, I just doubt that you'll find it necessary.

You'll want to be able to carry it hands-free, so I'd think any weatherproof backpack would be fine. A bigger one for the BOB. Have some free space available in either, in case you pick up anything useful along the way.

That's really messed up...not only because 'IQ 169' and 'board certified astrologist' are mutually-exclusive, but to also claim liquid smoke is an acceptable alternative to a smoker? Heresy! She clearly added a digit to her claimed IQ score.

You're probably right, but I suspect some people elect to get the insurance if they are going to carry. Liberals nationwide wouldn't be screaming so loudly about 'murder insurance' if it wasn't a thing. I'm just curious as to what it might cost for those in other states who choose to purchase. Bump that up by 40% 'because Jersey' and it might be in the ballpark for what we would pay. The court won't allow the requirement to stand if the insurance is unavailable here; I don't know if it's more likely that the requirement will be struck down, or if the state will be forced to allow the insurance to be available. Hoping for the former.

Someone must have the link to those statistics bookmarked. If so, the Wayback Machine (https://web.archive.org) will have archived the page(s), probably taking snapshots multiple times over the years. That's a really useful tool for finding stuff that used to be on the web, but has been taken down. Unfortunately, it's kludgy for searching; it works much better if you have a link and want to see what was at that link at various times in the past.

I'd be interested to know what it costs in other states, if anyone here has a friend (or is active on a gun board) in free America.

I ran the smoker one more time today before the holiday week ended for me--this time, beef ribs. I've tried smoking them before, and was always disappointed as the ribs I could find had very little meat on them. I finally found that Restaurant Depot is a good source of big plate ribs. The four-rib plates weigh almost 4 lbs. These were coated with a thin layer of tobasco sauce as a binder for the rub, followed by some kosher salt as a dry brine, then Mixon's short rib rub recipe, applied generously. I smoked them with oak (mostly) and a bit of mesquite. Once they go on, they don't require much attention, only in the last couple of hours did I mist them periodically with beef broth. Total cook time was 8 hours, with the smoker starting out at 225, and gradually increasing to about 310F. They turned out great, finally everything I wanted in a beef rib. And even after cooking, they're huge. Since I had the fire pit burning most of the day, I also tried something from the Playing with Fire cookbook I received for Christmas. I tossed a butternut squash directly on the coals. After turning it every 10 minutes for an hour, it was done, and while it was a charred blackened mess on the outside, the squash on the inside was wonderful. I scooped it out, mixed in a little butter and some freshly grated nutmeg, and it was a great, fire-roasted side dish.

I searched briefly without success, but found a 2013 post on a UK forum that said they contacted Redding, who sent them a manual for the model 16 press. So that’s worth a shot.

My first attempt at making bacon turned out rather nicely! I followed this recipe: Bacon! It calls for a wet cure, and a low temp smoke. Purists may favor a dry cure, followed by cold smoke, but this is a more foolproof way to avoid food safety issues, and I'm not set up for cold smoking anyway. I started with an 8.5 lb pork belly from Costco, and cured with sugar, brown sugar, salt, and Prague Powder #1, which is the actual cure and weighed out carefully. Everything was dissolved in water and the belly, cut in half, was put in to soak in the fridge-weighted down with a heavy plate to keep everything submerged, and the belly halves were flipped and rotated every day for 10 days. At the end of 10 days, the belly was removed from the cure, rinsed, patted dry, then put back on drying racks in the fridge for 16 hours. Today I fired up the smoker with hickory smoke wood, lightly coated the top of the belly with maple syrup, and put it on a 190F for 4.5 hours until it hit an internal temperature of 145F--enough to kill any bacteria the cure missed, but not so hot as to render fat from the pork belly. The final product looks good, and a test slice I fried up tasted great. I'm planning on a bacon-heavy brunch tomorrow! Mmmmm, Bacon!

Happy New Year! Hoping you all get more happy time at the range and afield in 2023!

While I strongly support both, I think the First Amendment is potentially more dangerous than the Second.

Fair enough, I didn't click through to see what shipping might have been.

This looks like a pretty good one-day flash sale at Palmetto Armory. https://palmettostatearmory.com/cci-blazer-brass-9mm-ammo-115-grain-fmj-500rds-5200bk500.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=daily_deals&utm_campaign=20221228&utm_term=morning

I’m just here waiting for all of the fatalists to post their gun collections for sale at blowout prices.

This recipe didn't require a smoker, but it could have. I really like lox, but it's stupid expensive so I don't enjoy it often...but it turns out to be very easy to make. This came in at about 40% the cost of commercial lox. I used a composite of a couple of online recipes, but this one is a good example: Lox recipe. Smoked salmon often starts with a lox salt cure before going on the smoker at low temperature, but you want a dedicated smoker to smoke fish—you’ll never get the fish smell out of it, and it would distract from future briskets, ribs, etc. I started with 2.2 lbs of the freshest Atlantic salmon I could find, and prepared the cure with salt, sugar, white pepper, a little lemon zest and a lot of fresh chopped dill. The salmon, cut into two pieces, was liberally coated on both sides, then wrapped tightly with plastic wrap. To ensure good contact with the cure, the wrapped salmon is then pressed between two pans, with a convenient weight added to the top pan. It stays like this for three days in the refrigerator, turning it, draining the liquid, and occasionally re-wrapping, two times a day. Once unwrapped, it goes back into the fridge uncovered on a drying rack for half a day. That’s it, time to slice and enjoy! It freezes well for two or three months Stay tuned...I have an 8.5 lb pork belly curing right now. In about 9 more days, I'll hit it with light hickory smoke. Mmmmmmmmmm, bacon!

Sometimes marketing departments like round numbers, sometimes they just like different numbers. The .454 Casull, .45 Colt, and the .460 S&W all fire a .452 bullet. Case lengths differ, but not bore diameter.

I posted the text below back in Sept, and it worked out pretty well. Fast and cheap. Taken at home with my phone, using a suitable neutral wall as background. Uploaded to Walgreens photo center, using their 4x4 collage template on a 4”x4” print Total cost 53 cents. Each photo in the collage prints out at about 1.8” square, so leave enough blank space around your head to allow trimming to 1.5” square. Untrimmed, the photos might pass for 2x2”, but I think the consensus has been they really should be 1.5 sq.

I called the court today, using the 862-397-5700 ext. 75340 number @124gr9mm posted. It's been about 3 months since my application was dropped off at the PD and prints completed, and nearly two months since my money order was cashed. A pleasant fellow answered on the second ring (both unexpected, if you've every had occasion to call a state office) and he took my name and promised someone would get back to me. He said they were getting a lot of calls to check status just now. About three hours later a different pleasant fellow called back--again both unexpected things, if you've ever had occasion to call a state office. I think his first name was Dan. He said cashing the money order didn't necessarily mean I was getting close to having a permit--they had pulled the money orders from a lot of applications and cashed them all at the end of Oct or beginning of November. He said they're getting the permits out in 60 to 75 days, probably closer to the 75 day figure now, but the courts will be closed next week for the holidays. He made no mention of a hearing...I don't think anyone has said Morris Co is requiring hearings. He said his non-binding best estimate was that I'd have the permit by the end of the second week of January. I assume that means that is when it goes back to my local PD, introducing further delays. So, the waiting continues. I forgot to ask him if the judge was putting any additional restrictions on the permits, or if he knew how many applications had come in from Morris County. Questions for the next person who calls the court!

With the language of the bill now finalized, the request for an injunction should be ready to file the minute Murphy signs it.

Done! It's easy and fun.

Didn’t really look, I figured they had the important part right.